This invention relates to a container especially an injection-moulded container of plastics material.
In many applications, especially storage and supply of emulsion paint, plastics containers are preferred over the previously used sheet metal containers.
Such containers include a rim portion, the container being closed by a push-fitted lid engaged in an opening provided by the rim portion, the container thus provided resembling closely the previously used sheet metal containers.
It has been proposed to mould a main container portion without a rim portion and to secure a separate rim portion at the mouth of the main container portion. Moulding of the main container portion without a rim enables the use of simple injection moulding tools, the main container portion being removed simply by sliding it from a non-collapsible mould core. Such a container having a separately inserted rim portion is described in GB-B-2023555 in which a rim ring is inserted into the mouth of the main container portion and retained in place by engagement of a projection on the rim in a groove on the inner surface of the side walls of the main container portion. However, the construction described in this document is such that, not only is the engagement of the rim ring with the main container portion barely adequate, exhibiting a tendency for the rim ring to slip from the mouth of the container when subjected to force, but also, the seal provided between the rim ring and the mouth of the container portion may be unreliable, permitting leakage of the contents. Furthermore, the construction described in this document does not provide a drip channel, in the rim.
U.S. Pat. No. 4619373 discloses a similar construction to GB-A-2023555, except that the projection is provided on the inner surface of the side walls of the main container portion and the groove is provided in the rim. The projection has to be small to permit removal from a non-collapsible core and the radial faces to the projection make this problem worse. The rim does include a drip channel and the base of the channel is below the groove. A force exerted on the rim through the lid, therefore, tends to separate the groove and the projection, so that leakage is more likely. Similarly an internal force on the lid, caused, for example, by dropping the container would also tend to separate the groove and the projection, so that the rim came apart from the mian container portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3378177 discloses a container provided with a lid which snaps over the top of the container. There is no separate rim, but the container has an external lip over which the lid engages. The lid also has an internal annular flange which seals with the inner peripheral surface of the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4667843 discloses a similar structure to US. Pat. No. 4169373, but the projection is provided near the mouth of the main container portion and the drip-channel is connected to the rim by an integral radial web. This radial web is located above the projection and corresponding rim. This construction suffers the same problems as U.S. Pat. No. 4619373.
FR-A-1175373 discloses in FIG. 2 a lid which engages a formation at the mouth of a container and an annular tongue which engages a formation within the container to form an internal seal.